There are occasions when a considerable amount of thought goes into cobbling an entry together (most of the time), including the occasional half hour spent finding articles, half hour reading them, and half hour trying to figure out how they fit together, if they fit at all.

The following Red Wings-related articles (and matter of business) all matter, but they don't seem to fit into any classifiable category.

Of note:

The Toledo Walleye won two of three of their opening-weekend games against the Florida Everblades, dropping the Hurricanes' ECHL team by a 3-2 overtime tally on Sunday, but Wings prospect Jordan Pearce (who backstopped the Walleye to a 5-2 win on Saturday) sat on the bench while Alec Richards registered 33 saves;

In the prospect-related category, University of Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves chose to bench Wings prospect and Wisconsin defenseman Brendan Smith and then scratch him for the Badgers' home-and-still-at-home series against the University of Denver, and he had this to say to the media regarding Smith's status (per the Badgers' website):

October 19, UWBadgers.com: QUESTION #3: Do you have any updates on if Blake [Geoffrion] and Brendan will play this coming weekend?

EAVES:
Brendan will be back in the lineup. Blake is right now day to day, and
so we will continue to monitor that. But Brendan, we'll get him back in
rotation. We had a terrific talk this morning, talked about the
weekend, talked about the things that came out of this weekend, and
looking forward to getting him back in there....QUESTION #5: Mike, it's no secret Brendan Smith has a lot of God given talent. Is it more of a challenge with some than others to harness that talent and make that individual a player and a good team players as well?

EAVES: Well, Brian, I'll throw this name out there, because you lived through it as we did, but take a look at Ryan MacMurchy and what type of play he was, very physical, gifted, emotional, young hockey player. And Mac and, Mac and I, we worked through a lot of things together. And I think that Brendan, he wears his heart on his sleeve, and I think that he's got to learn to control that, to direct it in the right areas, and he's making those strides.

And we just have to continue to, you know, hold him accountable and give him feedback and help him grow in those areas that allows his strengths to remain his strengths rather than have those become vices for him. You know, sometimes your virtue can become your vice. And he's a terrific kid. I would want him in my foxhole any day. But at the same time, how do we help him become the most effective athlete and all the...person that he can become? And that was part of what we did this weekend.

I don't know how to put it politely, so I'll just say it: Smith's a classic "hot dog," a player who can do whatever he wants with his career when he puts his mind to it, but the whole committing to working hard concept is sometimes lost upon him.In other minor-league news, the Chicago Wolves have fired coach Don Granato, and while they don't plan on hiring Chris Chelios as an assistant coach, one wonders where he fits into interim coach and Wolves GM Wendell Young's plans;

If you're willing to deal with the Flash reader format, there's an article about the improbability of a Red Wings-Penguins Stanley Cup finals re-match in this month's edition of NHL Impact;

Two former Red Wings made the "napkin notes" recently. Wings alumnus Kevin Miller might be able to help you retire, or me to figure out how to invest in Frankenberry and Boo Berry (as somebody bought all Wal-Mart's stock of the seasonally-available cereal...which I really wanted to have a box or two of...), according to the Lansing State Journal:

October 19, Lansing State Journal: Kevin Miller, of Lansing-based Kevin Miller Financial Services, has
received the certified financial planner professional designation from
Washington, D.C.-based Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards
Inc. Miller is a former Michigan State University hockey player and
Detroit Red Wings player.

Another former Wing watched the Dallas Stars play against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, but assured the Dallas News's Mike Heika that his employers aren't planning on making a trade:

October 19, Dallas News: Eleven scouts in the stands, but they are just here because the AHL has
a good week in Cedar Park, Houston and San Antonio. Detroit scout Pat
Verbeek (you might have heard of him) said there is no buzz around
either NHL team, just a bunch of scouts trying to do their jobs.

The Macomb Daily's Bruce MacLeod posted a list of Red Wings statistics to judge how the players have performed at even strength, while shorthanded, and on the power play over sixty-minute spans for the Wings' first seven games. It's a little early for stats in my book, but MacLeod makes good sense out of limited data.

At even strength...

October 19, Macomb Daily: OK, so obviously seven games is a small data base. But kudos to the
fourth liners for their offensive contributions. In the past, the
Wings' fourth line has been good when it doesn't score and the
opponents don't score and bad when it doesn't score and the opponents
do score. There was never really a we-score option. This season,
they've scored and that's been a big boost. And Maltby's production has
been the best among Detroit forwards thus far with the Wings outscoring
opponents, 3-1, with him on the ice. Abdelkader, May, Helm and Eaves
have been on the ice for goals scored, but also on for too many goals
against.

Datsyuk's line obviously needs to pick up the offense. And
the third line, Filppula's line, that was so good in preseason has
stumbled early. Williams has been on the ice for just one even-strength
goal scored in 90:6 of ice time ... that's more than a game and a half.On
defense, Lidstrom is off to a better start than he was last season,
much more like he played the previous three post-lockout campaigns.

Kronwall
and Stuart have been offensive black holes. You think Williams has had
a slow start, the Wings have scored just one goal in 115:12 of
Kronwall's even-strength time ... nearly two full games.

It's nice
to see Ericsson and Lebda so active offensively, but the defensive cost
has been way too high. Ericsson has been on the ice for more than half
of Detroit's 17 even-strength goals allowed (nine). Lebda has played
just 44:37 of even-strength time, but has been on the ice for six of
the 17 team goals allowed. No wonder he's been on the bench.

Sans stats, it's not hard to figure out that May, Eaves, Abdelkader, and to a lesser extent, Helm haven't quite figured out the Wings' defensive system yet, and Ericsson and Lebda...They've been awful in their own zone. Awful.

While killing penalties...

October 19, Macomb Daily: Filppula has been problematic on the penalty-kill, being on the ice for
five of the Wings' seven goals allowed. In more ice time, Stuart has
been on the ice for six PPGA and Ericsson for four.

On the positive, Lidstrom is having a tremendous PK start to the season with one goal against in 19:18.

Fil's had a rough go on the PK, as has Stuart, but Stuart's generally been playing alongside Ericsson. If there are any players suffering from a Cup Finals hangover, they wear #52, #22, #43, and #8. Stuart's at least trying to be a difference-maker out there, and has blocked oodles of shots.

And on the power play...

October 19, Macomb Daily: Nine power-play goals as a team and Cleary's been on the ice for seven
of those. Keep throwing Dan over the boards, please. I was wrong about
Leino, so far. I thought he would be a better power-play option than
Bertuzzi, but big Bert has been more effective so far.

You can toss
out Stuart's number because it's one goal for in just 3:32 of ice time.
Williams' effectiveness is interesting. Samuelsson was very effective
the past two seasons as well. I'm not a big believer in forwards on the
power-play point, but I'm changing my mind on that one. The number of
short-handed goals allowed is usually so small that the drawback of
having a forward defending doesn't become much of a negative. And
Kronwall gets a big share of the credit for Williams' effectiveness so
far. The pair has worked well together on the PP.

Finally, an order of business. The Plymouth Whalers definitely deserve a plug for their annual breast cancer awareness game, per MLive.com's Peter Krupsky:

October 19, MLive.com: When the Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth Whalers take on the Belleville Bulls this Saturday at Compuware Arena at 7:05pm, they’ll be playing for more than two points in the competitive Western Conference standings.

Saturday
is the Whalers annual Pink Out! for Breast Cancer and the team will
playing to raise money and awareness for breast cancer, with a couple
of notable changes in the way they normally look.

The
Whalers will be playing in pink jerseys designed specifically for the
event. The game-worn jerseys will be available for fans to bid on
during an auction at the game until the start of the third period.

The proceeds from the jersey auction, along with the 50/50 raffle and HinesPark
Chuck-a-Puck will also go to the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute.
In addition, the Whalers will be sporting pink hair, courtesy of Lucky
Hair Company, located at 45251 Cherry Hill Road in Canton, and fans will have a chance to get pink hair of their own or massages at the game for a donation.

The entire Whalers team will be having their hair dyed pink in two shifts on Wednesday at 10am and 5pm.
Fans and media are invited to Lucky Hair Company to watch the event, or
perhaps participate on their own. The phone number for Lucky Hair
Company is (734) 844-8166.

By
dyeing their hair on Wednesday, the Whalers will be wearing pink hair
at high school (many of our younger players attend high school at the Plymouth-CantonEducationalPark) the rest of the week and then play Friday on the road in Kitchener against the Rangers the night before the Pink Out!

“We did the same thing last year,” said Plymouth defenseman Leo Jenner.
“Doing this a couple of days before raises awareness. People get to
see you out in public and it raises questions. We can tell the public
why we’re doing it and support the cause at the same time. (In the
end) that’s what it’s all about.”

For the record, Wings prospect Stephen Johnston plays for Belleville, too, if that's what might get you in the door...

And I have a question to ask (which is the order of business to deal with). The comments are iffy at present due to the new format--some people have to re-register for inexplicable technical reasons, and the comments are no longer CC'ed to my inbox, so I have to fiddle with what is an equally new and unfamiliar blogging software website to read your takes--but the Red Wings are posting some pretty solid ticket deals and promotions...

And while MLive doesn't dig free advertising, nor do I suggest that you spend your money on anything other than perhaps a box of Frankenberry cereal...I would like to know how you, dear readers, would like me to proceed in terms of making you aware of any Red Wings ticket deals or promotions.

The NHL's new format for websites seems to have rendered the Wings' email list notifications moot for the moment, so the only way you can find out about the promotions involves either working social networking sites or going to the website yourself.

The Wings have posted a relatively regularly-updated promotional schedule page on their website, and in November, for example, the Wings-Sharks game on the 5th of November will include an appropriately-one-armed Budd Lynch bobblehead, the November 12th game against Vancouver will include a Steve Yzerman "Hall of Fame" plaque, and on November 27th, there's an outdoor cookout planned (which is really clever).

They're still running the student rush promotion as well, and their index page notes that they've got a promotion going where you can purchase 2 upper-bowl tickets for $48 and get two soft drinks and two hot dogs for your trouble.

I wouldn't plan on issuing single entries regarding Wings promotions, but I'd like to ask whether posting some sort of weekly "digest" would be appropriate in your eyes. You're my readers, and you're why I do this, so please let me know in the comments section below, even if you have to re-register to do so.